Sensitive Outsider

The Late Show BBC 2 late night arts show, which became The Late Late Show and has since been renamed a further fifty times. Tony Parsons never changes, though.
(Lecturers of) St. Martins Art college in London, features in Pulp's "Common People" (probably because that's where Jarvis Cocker went). Think it's somewhere near Charing Cross.
Five farthings From the nursery rhyme "Oranges & Lemons", which also mentions St. Martins.
Whitehall Farces These usually featured Brian Rix and had titles like "Whoops vicar, where's my wife's trousers"
Samantha from Athena Athena was a poster/bookshop. Now gone bust. "Samantha" was the name of that infamous poster of the woman tennis player with no knickers, scratching her backside.
Glastonbury Festival.
Enya Irish folksie singer, used to be with Clannad.
[The Throwing] Muses, [Suzanne] Vega, 10,000 Maniacs For once I fall victim to the harsh tongue of HMHB, as I have all of these.
"Bonanza" theme at the end.

Fretwork Homework

Battle of the Bands TV contest for spotty adolescent schoolkid bands, preferably with the combination of zero lyrical, singing or musical ability.
Lisa Dominique tarty UK soft metal singer, now apparently also an author.
The riff preceding the chant of "Fretwork Homework" comes from AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie". In the live (AC/DC) version, "Angus, Angus" is the chant.

Faithlift

Clan of Xymox (later just Xymox) A Dutch band, fronted by the elusive Pieter Nooten, made a small 4AD splash in the mid 80s with their goth-synth windpipe sound.
...surf with Satan Apparently (according to the TV prog Rough Guide), there is a bunch of Christian surfers in Hawaii who "surf for Jesus". 'Nuff said.

Song for Europe

"(k)now love, (k)now peace" [with the k pronouced (as in Jacques the Chef - Knorr adverts)] That is used on various posters outside of churches i.e. no Jesus, no love. Know Jesus, know love.

Even Men with Steel Hearts

Louis Armstrong Hey, it's a wonderful world.
"Sheep are green, dead roses too" From "Wonderful World" which goes "I see trees of green, red roses too".
Magdalene Mary Magdalene, biblical whore who was cured of seven demons by Christ. She was present at the crucifixion.
Sellafield Cumbria village next door to British Nuclear Fuel's ginormous nuclear waste reprocessing plant.
"Dock Road can lad on the end of a rope" A can lad is someone they used to employ on building sites, docks, etc. to stay at the bottom of ladders and fill cans, generally get stuff to pass up to the workers above. Dock Road is a place where this used to happen a lot. Educational or what?

£24.99 From Argos

The el-cheapo synth bit is the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Argos is a catalogue shop. Flimsy folding shoe racks, just what we all wanted.
[David] Sylvian and [Robert] Fripp Singer & guitarist, the former used to be with Japan, the latter with King Crimson. Fripp is married to Toyah Wilcox. Sylvian has about 8 albums he put out since the breakup of Japan, including some weird collaborative projects, at least one of which was with Fripp.
"slumped in the corner for maximum effect" is a reference to a line in an Echo & The Bunnymen song.
NordicSki widow a kind of exercise machine where you ski (!). The widow bit refers to the "football widow" type of thing, i.e. wives deserted on Saturday afternoons while hubby disappears off to the match. Probably just like Nigel.

Sponsoring the Mospits

Mospit is probably a spelling mistake on the sleeve…
Moshpit the bit at the front of the stage where headbangers mosh OR The place where fans attempt to get seriously injured when listening to their fave live bands.
Gabriel Archangel, also Peter Gabriel, formerly of Genesis, who does things like lose a small fortune backing world music concerts. Apparently he is a mate of the band (or so Nigel said before the song at a gig). He's the one who said "Why don't companies sponsor moshpits at small clubs?" hence the song.
Keith Prowse Concert promoter.
David Prowse Green Cross Code man, also Darth Vader.
Ernie Ball Makes guitar strings and the odd bass guitar.
Rotosound Make guitar strings.
[Avedis] Zildjian & Paiste Cymbal manufacturers. Allegedly, Paiste should be pronounced "Pie-stee" and not as in wallpaper sticking stuff.
Sparks Pop group. Big hit with "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" in 1973, still going.
…won't come from Germany anymore "Girl From Germany" was an early Sparks single. Seem to remember an interview with them from ages ago, where they said that everyone assumed that they were German, even though they were living in a flat in Clapham at the time.
JCB Manufacturer of digger/bulldozer type vehicles, but may well be referring to another concert promoter.

Fear My Wraith

Vespers A worship service held in the late afternoon or evening in Christian churches.
Copenhagen Danish capital, home of Carlsberg, Hans Christian Andersen, and The Little Mermaid (which is not very big).
The National Grand National, annual method for killing a few horses.
Shoals of Tope Species of shark, found in British coastal waters.
Firing paint in some private woodland A reference to paintball, whereby grown adults run around in woods dressed in army costumes trying to splatter their 'enemies' with paint.
"I read the news today oh boy..." First line of the Beatles' "A Day In The Life"
"Svarc rejects new layer terms" Bobby Svarc, aka "Bobby from the Saff", is a Leicester lad who used to play up front for the Foxes, before moving on Lincoln City, then Boston United (£2,000, 1971-72 21 goals/28 games), followed Jim Smith to Colchester United (Layer Road) for £6,000 and scored 21/28, and then followed Smith again to Blackburn where he retired due to injury. Ta to Gus for the research.

Styx Gig (Seen by My Mates Coming Out of A)

Styx One of the American bands of the 70s like Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, etc that all sounded alike and thus could be avoided like the plague.
Strawbs Pop group of '70s, going again now (with Richard Huson still intact) with a "The" prefixing their name.
Sub Pop Seattle based label that released a lot of early grunge stuff like Nirvana and Mudhoney. Still going. Their real claim to fame should be the way they got their music out, a subscription service! You sent them 30 some-odd bucks they sent you one single a month on interestingly colored vinyl with 3-4 tracks.
Hudson-Ford A singing duo from the 70's, they were an offshoot of the Strawbs ("Part of the Union", etc.). Their one hit was "Pick Up The Pieces" There was also the romantic classic "Nice Legs, Shame About the Face" (issued as The Monks).
"Bucks lay-by" a lay-by in Buckinghamshire, I assume.
Keks Scouse term for either trousers or underpants or both.

Friday Night and the Gates Are Low

Title from Abba's "Dancing Queen" "...and the lights are low", perhaps also referring to HMHB's favourite footy side, Tranmere Rovers, who used to play on Friday nights, and are about to resume doing so again.
"attendance 1, 2, 3..." Reference to the notoriously low gates at Tranmere Rovers home games.
Jeunesse D'Esch Totally useless Euro footy side, who regularly got knocked out in the 1st round, especially in the 70's and (poss) 80's. Luxembourgoise.
Lux Soap made by Lever Bros in Port Sunlight, which a few miles south of Birkenhead. Also, abbreviation for Luxembourg. However, it's more likely to be…
"Looks Familiar" Cup Looks Familiar was a 70s/early 80s TV show with Denis Norden and a load of wrinkled ex-music hall troupers talking about the golden days of variety. Usually seen only if you bunked off school. :)
"burger in mouth" You don't just get the pies at the match these days. I'm told that the stench of frying clumps of gristle over Prenton Park is not one best things in life.
Reach for the Sky, Starman are films. But that's probably just a coincidence.

I, Trog

Title is a parody of I, Claudius. Paul (the previous author) claims this as his life story.
Humbrol Make plastic model kits and little pots of paint for them.
Point of Ayr Town in North Wales. Has (or had) a coal mine.
Sven Hassel War action novelist, with the odd bit of rumpy-pumpy.
Omni was/is a science fiction magazine.
Justin Hayward Used to be in The Moody Blues.
Risk Strategy board game. Conquer the world with little bits of plastic.

Tour Jacket with Detachable Sleeves

Delivered in the style of The Velvet Underground's The Gift (sort of).
Stipe Records Michael Stipe? A label distributed by the Cartel? (guessing)
Dogs d'Amour An '80s London hair farm glam/trash band with no discernible musical talent whatsoever.
Talulah Gosh An excellent tweepop group from the mid-late 80's from Oxford, who became Heavenly for the early 90's, and have now resurfaced as Marine Research in 1998.
"Travis by Cartel for those who like their Trade Rough" refers to indie music distributors, Geoff Travis owned/ran Rough Trade, The Cartel distributed Rough Trade and other indie labels. Rough Trade went bust after The Smiths split up. "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" might refer to him. Strange Fruit, the label that used to distribute the BBC Peel Sessions (one of which was HMHB) was distributed by Rough Trade. Probe Plus was used by the Cartel to distribute records around the northwest area.
Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrik film, gangs and ultraviolence, book by Anthony Burgess, now dead. Kubrick actually instructed that the film never be shown in the UK again, after the reaction to it's initial release -- people (i.e. Mary Whitehouse), did want to ban it, but he didn't give them the pleasure.
ELP Emerson, Lake and Palmer, nightmare.
"Welcome Back My Friends to the show that never ends" Abominable ELP *triple* live LP. One track was a drum solo. Lasted for days.
Moog Analog synthesizer, favoured by Stereolab and the like these days.
PFM Premiata Forneria Marconi (translates as "Marconi's Prize-winning Bakery"!), a bunch of Italian prog rockers. Their drummer was the lead vocalist, and Pete Sinfield of King Crimson wrote their lyrics. They were not as inept as late-period ELP, however.
Azuri Italian national football team.
Rossi Paolo Rossi, footballer, scored six goals (& won Golden Boot) for Italy in 1982 World Cup, including a hat-trick v Brazil and one in the final, months after being suspended for corruption.
Cocteau Twins Indie pop, 4AD. Warbling over strings.
Sylvia Song by 70s band Focus.
Jan Akkerman Member of Focus.
Focus Dreadful Dutch synthy-prog-rock band. Hocus Pocus, House of the King et al.